Fox Sports Rolls Out $15M Marketing Blitz For U.S. Open, Including Edgy TV Spots

Fox Sports is "teeing up what it is calling the biggest promotional push in the history of golf's U.S. Open," launching a $15M "multifaceted marketing blitz" in advance of the June 18-21 tournament at Chambers Bay, according to Anthony Crupi of AD AGE. The initial TV spots "balance a reverence for the history of the Open with more than a little of the network's trademark chutzpah." One of the three promos "kicks off with archival footage of President John F. Kennedy playing the links at the Hyannisport Club" in '63. The spot jumps from a "quick shot of an exuberant Arnold Palmer to a snippet from 'Easy Rider' ... before cutting to a young Elvis Presley." The so-called "Anthem" spot ends with a "barrage of iconic Open moments" and is "scored by Grand Funk Railroad's 'We're an American Band.'" The juxtaposition is "almost sublimely goofy, and it's the kind of big swing that only Fox can carry off." A second promo features last year's runner-up Rickie Fowler in the "throes of what appears to be a bad peyote trip." Fowler's "barely perceptible smirk at the end really sells the spot." Along with in-house placement on Fox and FS1, the Open promos "will appear" on Discovery Channel, Comedy Central, History and CNN. Also included are "print buys in Fox's former corporate siblings The Wall Street Journal and New York Post and outdoor signage" in and around Seattle-Tacoma Int'l Airport. Fox Sports Exec VP/Marketing Robert Gottlieb said that while the Open promos "are undeniably the product of the Fox ethos, the thrust of the marketing effort is to acknowledge the history and the tradition of the event." Gottlieb: "It's [a] little more edgy than what people may have seen in the past. It's a little louder, it's a little more dynamic, it's a little more colorful" (ADAGE.com, 6/4).